25 years ago, for a community planning event called ‘Renew Kentish Town’, landscape architect Marie Clarke produced a vision for the future development of the Kentish Town goods yard sites:
- A dense mixed-use development would replace the Regis Road industrial area to the south of the railway, providing the capital to regenerate the area
- To the north of the railway, a new Parkway would extend from the heart of Kentish Town to Hampstead Heath and Parliament Hill
- At the heart of the proposal is a a new courtyard square, extending the existing road bridge over the railway tracks by Kentish Town Station, with an integrated transport interchange with commercial and public space.
Sadly, this community vision has been lost, due to development trends pushing up land values, making the high-rise, over-dense development the norm. Camden Council seems to have lost the plot, selling off valuable public assets to Yoo Capital for a massive film studio complex, which is out of place for Kentish Town, a large, single use removing the potential for a diverse business economy.
In Folgate Estate’s new proposals (below), the vision of a green ‘Parkway’ has become a narrow pedestrian route, with trees, overshadowed by large blocks of new apartments.
above: the approved ‘Camden Film Quarter’ by Yoo Capital on the left (south) of the railway; ‘Murphy’s Yard’ proposal by Folgate Estate
above: the narrow pedestrian route to the Heath
As with the previous ‘Murphy Yard’ scheme no consideration has been made of the need to protect the peace and privacy of Kentish Town Farm, an important community space – there is a wall of high buildings directly overlooking it. This would also severely impact residents of Meru and Hemingway Closes (see below).
Another aspect that has been overlooked by planners and developers is the need to address the very poor road junction of Regis Road and Kentish Town Road. This was highlighted by Kentish Town Neighbourhood Forum in the Kentish Town Neighbourhood plan of 2016, where a project for a CIL money was prioritised:
Neither Yoo Capital or Folgate Estates are addressing the need to create a proper public space for Kentish Town. There is an opportunity for a new improved station built over the tracks which would be major improvement for residents Kentish Town, and is required for the proposed population increase.
